Wisconsin

Telemark Resort opens for Birkebeiner events

The Telemark Resort reopened on Friday in time to host skiers for a Birkie Tour on the famed ski trail and with assurances the lodge will be open for the ski race that will draw thousands to northern Wisconsin in late February.

Dick Short, the real estate developer who controls the Telemark property, visited the Cable area during the week and arranged to keep the lodge open through March 1. In the coming weeks, he plans to work with representatives from the Birkebeiner, the Town of Cable, the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival and other interested parties on long-term plans for the resort, which closed in May.

A sale of the lodge and the 1,000 acres that surround it is not imminent, Short said.

His preferred outcome would be a deal that protects the trails on the property and ensures the long-term operation of the lodge. But Short said he does not plan to be a full-time operator from 900 miles away, in his home office in Springfield, Mo.

"I have started the ball to try to get it jump-started and I'll be involved with it until somebody comes along that believes in what I plan to do and takes it over," he said. "The last thing I want to do is cut it into 20-acre tracts and destroy the heritage of Telemark."

A proposal to buy and renovate the resort failed earlier this year when the principals failed to pull together the necessary financing.

Short said he expected the plans for the long-term operation of the resort and future renovations would be finalized in the next 45 days.

On Friday, 10 rooms were opened for visitors traveling to the area for the Birkie Tour, a recreational ski outing on the Birkebeiner Trail that runs from Cable to Hayward.

It's expected that roughly 100 rooms would be available for the Birkebeiner on Feb. 26. Roughly 9,000 skiers are expected to participate in the Birkie races.

"I think the entire community wants that lodge to be in operation," said Ned Zuelsdorff, the executive director of the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation. "It's a landmark. Hopefully, this is a step toward the rebirth of Telemark."